ancient art

Hardcover. New Haven, Yale University Press, reprint, 1967, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Good, Hardcover, 625 pages, 700 b&w plates. Light edgewear to dust jacket, small tear; previous price sticker on front flap. Foxing to top edge. Else a clean, tight copy.

Hardcover. UK, self-published, 1st, 1965, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Very Good, Hardcover in a lightly worn dust jacket. "A careful study of an ancient craft, peculiar to the County of Cornwall, that of carving Family Portraits in Slate." Foreword by Dorothy Dudley. 184 pages, many b&w illustrations. Clean.

Hardcover. New Haven CT, Yale University Press, 1st, 2020, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Very Good, Hardcover in a bright dust jacket, 179 pages. From the prizewinning Jewish Lives series, a meditation on the deeply Jewish and surprisingly spiritual roots of Stan Lee and Marvel Comics Few artists have had as much of an impact on American popular culture as Stan Lee. The characters he created--Spider-Man and Iron Man, the X-Men and the Fantastic Four--occupy Hollywood's imagination and production schedules, generate billions at the box office, and come as close as anything we have to a shared American mythology. This illuminating biography focuses as much on Lee's ideas as it does on his unlikely rise to stardom. It surveys his cultural and religious upbringing and draws surprising connections between celebrated comic book heroes and the ancient tales of the Bible, the Talmud, and Jewish mysticism. Clean copy.

Hardcover. Honesdale PA, Boyds Mills, 1st, 1994, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Very Good, Hardcover in a bright, unclipped dust jacket. Luminous watercolor art by Ted Lewin. When Adam's family leaves Russia for America, Grandfather gives him an ancient prayer shawl that has been passed down from generation to generation, and in time, an older Adam passes the prayer shawl down to his own grandson. Inscribed on front fly leaf, otherwise clean.

Hardcover. Honesdale PA, Boyds Mills, 2nd pr., 1993, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Very Good, Hardcover in a bright, unclipped dust jacket. Luminous watercolor art by Ted Lewin. When Adam's family leaves Russia for America, Grandfather gives him an ancient prayer shawl that has been passed down from generation to generation, and in time, an older Adam passes the prayer shawl down to his own grandson.

Hardcover. NY, Macmillan Company, 1st, 1959, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: None, Hardcover, tan cloth covers, 286 pages, map endpapers, b&w illustrations. Lionel Casson, the renowned authority on ancient ships and seafaring, has done what no other author has: he has put in a single volume the story of all that the ancients accomplished on the sea from the earliest times to the end of the Roman Empire. He explains how they perfected trading vessels from mere rowboats into huge freighters that could carry over a thousand tons, how they transformed warships from simple oared transports into complex rowing machines holding hundreds of marines and even heavy artillery, and how their maritime commerce progressed from short cautious voyages to a network that reached from Spain to India. In the process he corrects cherished but erroneous beliefs. Ancient warships, he shows, were never manned with slave rowers; ancient merchant-men did not stick timidly to the shore; and ancient craft were well able to sail against the wind. Embossed stamp to dedication page, otherwise clean, No dust jacket.

Hardcover. New York, Universe Publishing, 2nd printing, 2009, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: None, Non paginated. Hardcover. Six pages of pop-ups in excellent condition, each page has several smaller pop-ups laid in. Bright cover boards & bright illustrations throughout by illustrator, Anton Radevsky. A magnificent journey through the history of architecture. Featuring amazing three-dimensional replications of famous buildings from ancient to modern times, The Architecture Pop-Up Book showcases artwork, photographs, pop-ups, and detailed text of the ancient Egyptian pyramids; the great constructions of Greece and Rome, such as the Parthenon and the Colosseum; majestic Asian wonders, including the Taj Mahal; Gothic and Neoclassical masterpieces, such as Notre Dame and the Florence Duomo; and the work of such important modern architects as Gaudi, Frank Lloyd Wright, and Frank Gehry. From a brilliantly elaborate Gothic cathedral nave to a telescoping Chrysler Building skyscraper, the talent and imagination of architects and builders from all eras and from all over the world are displayed and compared here.Clean, unmarked & tight copy.

Hardcover. NY, Dutton's Children's Books, 1st, 1995, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Very Good, Hardcover in a bright, unclipped dust jacket. 271 pages. Wrap-around jacket art by Trina Schart Hyman. Lucian, a young man of ancient Greece's Arkadia, embarks on a classical quest of danger, daring, and romance and encounters a remarkable cast of heroes, poets, seamen, horsemen, wise women, kings, and peasants. Clean copy.

New York, Dutton, 1st US, 1995, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Very Good, Hardcover in a bright, unclipped dust jacket, 271 pages. Wrap-around jacket art by Trina Schart Hyman. Lucian, a young man of ancient Greece's Arkadia, embarks on a classical quest of danger, daring, and romance and encounters a remarkable cast of heroes, poets, seamen, horsemen, wise women, kings, and peasants.

Softcover. Chicago, University of Chicago Press, reprint, 1978, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: None, Softcover, 400 pages. A landmark work by English historian Frances A. Yates (1899-1981); an examination of the mnemonic systems developed by the ancient Greeks, and their impact on the Renaissance thought of Giordano Bruno and others. Named one of the top 100 nonfiction books of the century by the Modern Library in 1999. One large fold-out plate, clean copy.

Hardcover. NY, Henry Holt, 1st, 1991, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Very Good, Hardcover in a bright, unclipped dust jacket, In ancient China a jealous artist plots to eliminate the favorite architect of the emperor. Once again Demi captivatingly presents a Chinese folktale with just enough text to tell the story and keep the interest of her young readers. Rendered in vibrant reds and pale blues and yellows, her illustrations feature finely detailed buildings and costumes, all the while retaining a fresh, clean look.Clean copy.

Hardcover. Geneva, Albert Skira, 1st, 1959, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Very Good, Hardcover in a bright, unclipped dust jacket. Green cloth boards with gilt lettering. Clean, bright copy with tipped-in color plates throughout, 193 pages.

Softcover. Athens, Greek Ministry of Culture, 1st, 1987, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: None, Softcover, 183 pages. Richly illustrated catalog for an exhibition in Washington on art from the Geometric, Orientalizing and Archaic periods. With a preface by Melina Mercouri. The chapters are: life in early Greece; the alphabet of history; the art of the Greek dark ages; geometric art; chart of vase shapes; vase painting; terracottas; bronzes; sculpture in stone. Clean copy.

Hardcover. Somerville MA, Candlewick Press, 1st, 2010, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Very Good, Hardcover in a bright dust jacket, 251 pages in color. With bold imagery and an ear tuned to the music of Homers epic poem, Gareth Hinds reinterprets the ancient classic as its never been told before. Retells, in graphic novel format, Homer's epic tale of Odysseus, the ancient Greek hero who encounters witches and other obstacles on his journey home after fighting in the Trojan War. Clean copy.

Hardcover. Chicago, University of Chicago Press, 1st, 2014, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Very Good, Hardcover, in a bright, unclipped dust jacket, 304 pages. The Oldest Living Things in the World is an epic journey through time and space. Over the past decade, artist Rachel Sussman has researched, worked with biologists, and traveled the world to photograph continuously living organisms that are 2,000 years old and older. Spanning from Antarctica to Greenland, the Mojave Desert to the Australian Outback, the result is a stunning and unique visual collection of ancient organisms unlike anything that has been created in the arts or sciences before, insightfully and accessibly narrated by Sussman along the way.

Softcover. Boston, Shambhala, 1st, 1981, Softcover, 160 pages. The Power of Limits was inspired by those simple discoveries of harmony. The author went on to investigate and measure hundreds of patterns--ancient and modern, minute and vast. His discovery, vividly illustrated here, is that certain proportions occur over and over again in all these forms. Patterns are also repeated in how things grow and are made--by the dynamic union of opposites--as demonstrated by the spirals that move in opposite directions in the growth of a plant.

Softcover. NY, Oxford University Press, repriny, 1989, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: None, Softcover, 290 pages. Henry Louis Gates, Jr.'s original, groundbreaking study explores the relationship between the African and African-American vernacular traditions and black literature, elaborating a new critical approach located within this tradition that allows the black voice to speak for itself.Examining the ancient poetry and myths found in African, Latin American, and Caribbean culture, and particularly the Yoruba trickster figure of Esu-Elegbara and the Signifying Monkey whose myths help articulate the black tradition's theory of its literature, Gates uncovers a unique system forinterpretation and a powerful vernacular tradition that black slaves brought with them to the New World. His critical approach relies heavily on the Signifying Monkey--perhaps the most popular figure in African-American folklore--and signification and Signifyin(g). Exploring signification in black American life and literature by analyzing the transmission and revision of various signifying figures, Gates provides an extended analysis of what he calls the "Talking Book," a central trope in early slave narratives that virtually defines the tradition of black American letters. Gates uses this critical framework to examine several major works of African-American literature--including Zora Neale Hurston's Their Eyes Were Watching God, Ralph Ellison's Invisible Man, and Ishmael Reed's Mumbo Jumbo--revealing how these works signify on the black tradition and on each other. Clean copy.

Softcover. Boston, Museum of Fine Arts, 1st, 1992, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: None, Softcover, 271 pages illustrated in color and b&w. Textiles were the Incas' most prized possessions. Their first gifts to European strangers were made not of gold and silver, but of camelid fibre and cotton. They believed that the highest form of weaving was created expressly for the sun, which they considered the greatest of the celestial powers. This book uses this image to symbolize Andean tradition as a whole and documents the collection of ancient and Colonial Andean textiles in the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, which is among the most comprehensive of its kind in the world. Described and illustrated here, in many cases for the first time are the finest examples from the collection: weavings of astonishing virtuosity with striking geometric designs, elaborate carpets and covers, mantles, tunics, featherwork, woven shoes with metal decoration and intriguing figural sculptures with tapestry faces - representing the major cultures of the pre-Columbian period as well as the achievements of Spanish Colonial times. Mild wear to outer wraps, otherwise a clean, bright copy.

Softcover. Los Angeles, Getty Conservation Institute, 1st, 2006, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: None, Softcover, 138 pages illustrated in color. As the Roman Empire expanded its African settlements in the early centuries of the common era, thousands of mosaic floor pavements were fashioned to adorn the townhouses and rural estates of the African upper classes. Between the second and sixth centuries, mosaic art blossomed, particularly in Africa Proconsularis, the region comprising modern Tunisia. In contrast to the official art of imperial Rome, mosaics generally expressed the worldviews of private citizens. These artworks are remarkable for the intricate beauty of their polychromatic geometric and floral designs, as well as for figural scenes depicting the interests and activities of the patrons who commissioned them--scenes of daily life, athletic contests, gladiator spectacles, and classical literature and mythology.Abundantly illustrated throughout, Tunisian Mosaics: Treasures from Roman Africa offers the general reader a lively introduction to this extraordinary ancient art. Initial chapters survey the historical background of Roman Africa and discuss the development of mosaic art in the Mediterranean. Subsequent chapters profile Tunisia's major mosaic sites and tour the collections of important museums. A final chapter surveys current initiatives to preserve this heritage for future generations. Clean copy.

Hardcover. Washington DC, Smithsonian Institution Press, 1st, 1998, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Very Good, Hardcover in a bright dust jacket, 292 pages, b&w illustrations. SIGNED BY BOTH AUTHORS on the title page. Additionally INSCRIBED BY COHN on the dedication page. Kevin J. Crisman and Arthur B. Cohn show how a confluence of geographic, technological, economic, and social conditions in the United States and Canada turned an ancient idea into a practical alternative to more expensive and dangerous steamboats. Reviewing evidence from travelers' memoirs, regional histories, pictorial records, and the only horseboat ever studied by archaeologists - a wreck on the floor of Lake Champlain's Burlington Bay, in Vermont - the authors trace the evolution of horseboats from early mechanisms that forced the animals to walk in tight circles to "endless floor" treadmills that resembled modern exercise machines. In a lively narrative interspersed with quotes from passenger accounts, the book charts the rise and demise of horseboat businesses on the Hudson River, as well as in New York City, St. Louis, and Halifax, Nova Scotia. The authors also describe and record the underwater excavation of the Lake Champlain wreck, revealing a wealth of detail about the construction and operation of a typical treadwheel horseboat of the 1830s and 1840s. Clean copy.

Hardcover. San Francisco, Chronicle Books, 1st, 2007, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Very Good, Hardcover, 202 pages, color illustrations. Essay by Annie Proulx. Remainder line to top edge. Watercolorist William Matthews has long been hailed as the preeminent painter of the American West. In this new collection of 180 staggering paintings, he captures the full range of western experience: endless skies, high plains, the last working cowboys, the Navajo the mystique of the Living Desert. Steeped in introspection and connected to land, tradition, and identity, Matthews' work evokes a place that is authentic, anachronistic, and dynamic. An essay by award-winning writer Annie Proulx provides insight into both the ranching and the art-making life, resulting in a glorious homage to this ancient terrain some of the last untamed wilderness in America.

Softcover. NY, Crown, 1st, 1993, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: None, Softcover, oblong format. 158 pages. A book of quietly beautiful photographic portraits of Native-American women, accompanied by their own reflections on what it means to be a woman and an Indian in America. The result is a startlingly honest and often poetic work. The women within these pages defy stereotype: they are mothers, activists, artists, environmentalists, and community leaders. Whether living on reservations or in cities, they have struggled to preserve an ancient culture and a land under siege. 85 black-and-white photographs. Clean copy.